Does Brad rely too heavily on his stars? several injuries under his watch

[Tr1boy]

Look not all,  for example GH freak injury. 

But there is a history of injuries.  IT4,  Irving,  Walker, Smart and now Brown under Brad Stevens watch

It could be just a strange coincidence.  Age could definitely be a factor.  Though Brown recent tendonitis scare leads me to believe that...

Brad just leans too heavily on his key players.   He calls for endless plays for them.   Is totally fine with endless ISO ball.  Defensively asks a lot from certain players. 

Its like he is not in tune with their overall health situation/healthspan,  unless the player brings it up.   Even if the player fights the coach not to reduce their minutes,  imo a good coach/staff should have better recognition regarding the health of his players, especially key players

These days the Celtics are barely 500, so Brad is leaning heavily on Bronw/Tatum to carry the load.  One of these guys are always on the court, which is not enough rest in reality 

Either Ainge needs to bring in some help soon OR Brad has to manage minutes/rotation better.   Play Nesmith more mins etc.  Sometimes its fine to sit both Brown and Tatum at the same time.    Currently, I rather make 6th-7th place and lean on the stars more in the playoffs.  Then lean on them hard from the beginning, risking injuries/tendonitis/shortened career span. 

Thoughts?

[Kuberski33]

He's got no choice. Two guys right now are reliable offensively and you have no idea what you're getting night to night with the rest of the roster - especially with Smart and until recently PP being hurt.

Until Kemba (hopefully) starts playing better.

[Csfan1984]

Last time I checked there are plenty of other stars playing the same minutes and not getting hurt. The only difference is many teams don't rely on their stars to be their main defenders. It's more personnel than minutes.

[Tr1boy]

Last time I checked there are plenty of other stars playing the same minutes and not getting hurt. The only difference is many teams don't rely on their stars to be their main defenders. It's more personnel than minutes.

This is a big difference if you ask me.

I don't see Zach Lavine doing this on both ends

[Fred Ziffel]

Injuries are part of the game.  You can baby these players but you never know when an injury may happen.

[Tr1boy]

Injuries are part of the game.  You can baby these players but you never know when an injury may happen.

Glad to see Brad lower Brown min down to 32

Overall good to see Brown/Tatum make good passes and not exert extra energy to try to do all the scoring

These guys need to keep doing this.  Even if the role players start off cold.   And if things don't change, then try to do the heavy lifting in the 2nd half

Lebron, Butler etc. follow this method.   Vs  try to get things ramped up early for themselves.   Hope for double teams in the 2nd half and expect the role players to make more difficult shots.

[Roy H.]

In general our best starters have played 32 - 33 minutes per night.  Is that unusual?

[Donoghus]

In general our best starters have played 32 - 33 minutes per night.  Is that unusual?

Yeah, I was going to say the same.  This isn't KC grinding the starters into the ground.  I've always thought Brad has done a pretty solid job on managing minutes with his starters.  Tatum has a slight uptick this year but its nothing egregious.

[gouki88]

Last time I checked there are plenty of other stars playing the same minutes and not getting hurt. The only difference is many teams don't rely on their stars to be their main defenders. It's more personnel than minutes.

This is a big difference if you ask me.

I don't see Zach Lavine doing this on both ends

You also don't see Zach Lavine in the playoffs

[Celtics2021]

Last time I checked there are plenty of other stars playing the same minutes and not getting hurt. The only difference is many teams don't rely on their stars to be their main defenders. It's more personnel than minutes.

This is a big difference if you ask me.

I don't see Zach Lavine doing this on both ends

Your examples were IT, Irving, Kemba, Smart, and Brown.  Really only Brown is asked to carry the load on both ends.

IT -- Small guy who played as hard as he could, constantly going into the paint and absorbing contact.
Irving -- There were plenty of stories prior to his being traded that he was hurt, and would need surgery sometime.  The negative spin during that period is that he planned to have it at the worst time for the Cavs, but then he played for the C's and ultimately needed it at a time that cost him the end of the season and the playoffs anyway.
Kemba -- He averaged 2800 minutes a season his four years prior to arriving in Boston, not including playoff minutes.  For perspective, he's at 2600 minutes since he's come to Boston, including 600 playoff minutes (a total of 84 games), so it's pretty likely the wear on Kemba happened before he came.
Smart -- All you have to do is watch him play to know that it's a matter of when, not if, he's going to get hurt.
Brown -- So far in his career, he seems like a guy who's going to miss 8-12 games a year, with 1-2 minor injuries a year.  He's not a walking injury magnet, but he seems a bit more prone to soft tissue injuries.  That said, he's likely not overworked in terms of minutes, and he's literally the only player you mentioned that carries the load at both ends of the court (and really this is the first season he's truly carried it on offense).

[tstorey_97]

The mpg doesn't seem out of line this season. I think "bench minutes" are up over last year.

In the playoff bubble, however Stevens played these guys into the ground.

Minutes played per game in playoff bubble...

Tatum - 40 min---------games played this season - 19
Brown - 39 min---------games played this season - 22
Smart - 38 min---------games played this season - 17
Walker - 36 min--------games plated this season - 11
Hayward - 31 min

When you consider the ridiculous schedule the NBA has been running over the last year? Playing your stars that many minutes is an issue and I think it has been discussed.

A lot of those minutes was the 7 screamer games they had with Raptors.

[tenn_smoothie]

Yes he does.  We aren't winning the title this year - don't put too many miles on Tatum, Brown, Smart - any of the young core.
35 minutes per should be the max, especially regular season.

[RodyTur10]

Last time I checked there are plenty of other stars playing the same minutes and not getting hurt. The only difference is many teams don't rely on their stars to be their main defenders. It's more personnel than minutes.

This is a big difference if you ask me.

I don't see Zach Lavine doing this on both ends

Good point. LeBron James plays a ton of minutes as well, but he can relax on defense. With his huge frame he's always a factor as a help defender and few players will try to take him on one-on-one, when he gets beat he has Davis (and Gasol) as interior wall behind him.

There are other two-way players who play 34-36 minutes a game, but Stevens tends to overplay Tatum/Brown 38-40 minutes in close hard fought games. If he does that then he has to take that into account for the next game and plan the rotation according to that.

Back-to-back (Toronto - Detroit):

Toronto: Tatum played 36 mins and Brown (coming back from injury) played 32 mins.
Detroit: Tatum played 40 mins and Brown played 36 mins.

That's just too many minutes given the situation (back-to-back, coming back from injury). I understand Stevens is worried about our record, but we're in the East (4th currently) so I think it will turn out fine. Despite our struggles I'm still very confident that the Celtics will make the playoffs.

fun fact: our current record of 13-12 would not be good enough to finish at a playoff spot in the West!

[Moranis]

No.

[nickagneta]

No.

This. Nothing else really needs to be said.

Also, if I remember correctly, Stevens has, in the past, been criticized for not playing his best players enough.